Customer Privacy Statement of the Regional Studies Association

The privacy and security of your personal information is important to us

This privacy policy explains how and why we use your personal data. We may need to make changes to this policy, so please check our website for updates from time to time. If there are important changes we will contact you to let you know. This version of our statement was last updated on 1st May 2018.

We will never sell your personal data.

We only share your personal data with third party organisations and individuals in the regional studies community when it’s necessary, as described below and only if the privacy and security of your data can be assured.

Who are ‘we’?

In this policy, whenever you see the words ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’, ‘Regional Studies Association’, this refers to The Regional Studies Association which is registered as a charity in the UK (charity number 1084165). We are also a company limited by guarantee (company registration number 04116288).

The Regional Studies Association is a leading international learned society in the field of regional studies. It was established to promote education in the field of regional studies, by the exchange of ideas and information and to stimulate and aid studies and research into regional planning, development and functions, and to disseminate the results of such research.

Our address is:
Sussex Innovation Centre
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9SB

If you have any questions in relation to this privacy policy or how we use your personal data, please direct these to the above address or use the contact details shown on our website:

www.regionalstudies.org/about/contact/

What personal data do we collect?

We will only use your personal data on relevant lawful grounds as permitted by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (from 25 May 2018)/UK Data Protection Act and Privacy of Electronic Communication Regulation (PECR).

Personal data provided to us will be used for the purpose or purposes outlined in any fair processing notice in operation at the time of collection or registration where appropriate, and in accordance with any preferences you express.

The reasons we process your data depends on the nature of our relationship with you, and how you interact with us.

You may have different relationships with us, for example, you could be a member, conference participant, grant applicant or have just signed up to receive information from us. Each will have implications for the kind of data that is collected and held about you and the method in which it is collected and processed.

Members

Legal basis for processing – The legal basis for processing membership data is legitimate interest. We will communicate with you about your membership of our community and the associated benefits. This may include (but is not limited to) information about forthcoming conferences, events, grants and other funding opportunities as well as information about publications and other news in our community.

What data do we hold? – We collect information including personal data (information which identifies you, or which can be identified as relating to you personally, for example, name, address, phone number, email address). This information is collected and used by the Regional Studies Association and is only shared with the parties shown below. We will only ask for the personal data that we need to process your membership and deliver your membership benefits. We may need to ask for additional information to verify your eligibility if you wish to claim certain discounts on your membership fee – for example, evidence that you are a student or early career researcher, or resident in a particular territorial membership band.

When you sign up for membership, you may add optional information to your profile on the RSA expert register, which is then visible to and searchable by other members. Members find this is a valuable resource for networking with other researchers in the community, particularly as part of a research partner search. If you do not want to share your details in this way, then you may leave these fields blank and/or opt out so that your details are not shared.

Email communication – Under the PECR regulations and new definition of consent under GDPR, we need to ask you for specific opt-in consent to email communications when you sign up or renew as a member, even if you have already given consent in the past.

If you do not give this consent, then we will only provide you with the basic membership services (such as printed journals by post) and we may not be permitted to send you newsletters, information about conferences, events and funding opportunities. We will communicate with you for a limited time when your membership is about to expire and after your membership has expired, to give you the opportunity to renew your membership and to continue to enjoy the membership benefits. Once that limited time of usually no more than six (6) months has expired we will only communicate with you if you have consented to receive marketing data. Shared information – We share your contact details with our publisher, Taylor and Francis (Informa). Taylor and Francis may in turn share this limited data with their distribution third party contractor who need this information to distribute the journals that are included in your membership. If you no longer want us to hold or process your data, you can opt out, or ask us to remove your data. If you ask us to remove all your data, we will remove all personal details, leaving only anonymised data in our systems. This will mean that you will not receive all the benefits that you have paid for.

Conference Delegates

Legal basis for processing – The legal basis for processing conference related data is legitimate interest. We will communicate with you about your conference booking and anything relating to the event and any abstracts, papers or related materials submitted. We may also send you post-conference feedback questionnaires (and information about future conferences that are likely to be of interest if you have given your consent to email marketing). We will always give you the option to “opt out” of future communications.

What data do we hold? – We collect information including personal data (information which identifies you, or which can be identified as relating to you personally for example, name, address, phone number, email address). We may also need personal information such as any special dietary requirements. Additional data will include details of any presentations to be made or exhibitions to be held at our events.

We will only ask for the personal data that we need to process your place at the conference, for example, to book your food, print your name badge and your attendance certificate and to process your conference payment and make arrangements for your participation.

We may need to ask for additional information that verifies your eligibility for conference discounts, for example, evidence that you are a student or early career researcher, or resident in a particular territorial membership band.

Email communication – Under the PECR regulations and new definition of consent under GDPR, we need to ask you for specific opt-in consent to email communications when you sign up to a conference (if you have not already given this in an existing profile). If you do not give this consent, then we will only provide you with specific conference information and we may not be permitted to send you newsletters, information about future conferences, events and funding opportunities.

We will always give you the option to “opt out” of future communications at any time.

Grant and Award Applicants and Recipients

We offer a wide range of individual and group grants, bursaries and support for research networks.

Legal basis for processing – The legal basis for processing this information is Contractual, and in accordance with the grant guidelines, terms and conditions and contracts.

What data do we hold? – If you apply for funding for any RSA grants for example, the Early Career, Membership and Fellowship Grants, Conference Bursaries, Travel Awards etc, we will ask for personal data that may include but not be limited to, your contact details, RSA membership number, employing institution, details of the research project including timings, details and objectives of the research, a brief overview of costs and budget, curriculum vitae, letters of support, copy of relevant qualification certificates etc.

If you nominate yourself, or someone nominates you for an award we will ask for a completed award nomination/application form. This will require personal contact information for both the candidate and nominator, and appropriate supporting documentation such as a curriculum vitae and copies of publications.

Shared Information – All grant and award applications are considered by our Research and Awards Committees comprising persons of good standing in the Regional Studies community, including staff and trustees of the RSA and other individuals as indicated on our website http://www.regionalstudies.org/about and in our annual Trustees Report.

All Information is kept securely, and only used for the purposes of considering eligibility and scoring for the grant/award applied for.

Marketing communications

Legal Basis for processing – The legal basis for general marketing to new contacts is consent once the first contact has been made. When we are organising a conference in a new territory, or on a new theme, we will often do research to find individuals and organisations that may be interested in attending, speaking at, or funding one of our events.

We do not normally buy and never sell lists of contacts. We normally research individuals from data that is publicly available, or from personal recommendations. We also may meet people at events organised by us, or other organisations or through telephone conversations, our mobile apps or via websites and public directories, and wish to communicate with them.

Once we have identified potential contacts (and usually within thirty days of identifying their details), we will contact them, giving them details about our organisation, and our interest in them and invite them to opt in to receive details from us.

Bank Information

We do not collect bank or credit card details. All payments made via our website are through the third-party payment processor Worldpay. Worldpay only share limited details with us (confirmation that the card payment has gone through, the ID number of the customer, and the order and invoice number of the customer).

Occasionally we may accept a card payment over the telephone which is processed through a card terminal in our office. In this case, we keep written details of the card payment in a secure locked location. The three-digit CCV number is physically destroyed once the card terminal receipt has been issued.

Cookies

The Regional Studies Association has a detailed cookies policy which may be found here – http://www.regionalstudies.org/site/page/2680

Legal or Regulatory Requirement

The Association will share data when it is legally required to do so, for example, when the Association is audited or has a Charity Commission inspection it will be necessary to comply with our legal obligations.

Where is your Information Processed?

The majority of your information is processed in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA)

How we Protect your Information

We take information and system security very seriously and we strive to comply with our obligations at all times. Any personal data which is collected, recorded or used in any way, whether on paper, online or in any other media, will have appropriate safeguards applied in line with our data protection obligations.

Our information is protected by controls designed to minimise loss or damage through accident, negligence or deliberate actions. Our employees also protect sensitive or confidential information when storing or transmitting information electronically.

We seek to meet industry standards of good practice; providing a controlled environment that effectively manages risk to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your information.

How Long we Keep your Information

We will keep your personal information only where it is necessary to provide you with our products or services while you are a customer.

We may also keep your information after this period but only where required to meet our legal or regulatory obligations. The length of time we keep your information for these purposes will vary depending upon the obligations we need to meet.

Your Individual Rights

Your have several rights in relation to how the Regional Studies Association uses your information.

They are:

The right to be informed – you have the right to clear and easy to understand information on what personal information we have, why and who we share it with. We explain this in our Privacy Statement.

A right of access – you have the right of access to your information. If you wish to receive a copy of the personal information that we hold on you, you may make a data subject access request (DSAR).

Right to request rectification – if your data is inaccurate or incomplete you can request that it is corrected.

Right to Erasure – you can ask for your data to be deleted or removed if there is not a compelling reason for the Regional Studies Association to retain it.

Right to Restrict Processing – you can ask that we block or supress the processing of your personal information for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information but will ensure that we don’t use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted.

Right to Object – you can object to the Regional Studies Association processing your personal data where it is based on our legitimate interests, for direct marketing and if we were using it for scientific/historical research and analysis.

How to make a complaint

We will always strive to collect, use and safeguard your personal information in line with data protection laws. If you do not believe we have handled your information as set out in our Privacy Policy, please contact us and we will do our utmost to make things right. If you are still unhappy you may complain to the UK-ICO on their helpline 0303 123 1113.

Ends.

Last revised on 23rd May, 2018

RSA Regions

Regions is the voice of the membership of the Regional Studies Association. If you are interested in submitting something then contact us at office@regionalstudies.org and we will work closely with you to help your article appear in a way most interesting to our readership.

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